1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic order and sales management system using a facsimile which promotes automation of order receiving operations of a supplier, and automation and streamlining of all sales based on information on the automation of the order receiving operations between an ordinary home and a supermarket, a retail store and a wholesale store, a wholesale store and a manufacturer, or an ordinary home and a mail-order dealer, and which realizes a service in which a consumer can purchase commodities sold at a supermarket at home.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this kind of system, the consumer generally purchases goods by using a telephone or mail, or directly going to a store. A facsimile is used instead of the mail to send only an order slip for purchasing goods, which can save time.
On the other hand, although the automation of order placing and receiving operations of traders is sometimes realized by an on-line system for communication between a private terminal installed at an supplier's office and a central computer at an order's office, such a system has not come into wide-spread use yet.
It is necessary in the above on-line system for communication between the private terminal and the central computer to install a terminal at the office of the orderer. In particular, if the orderer is an ordinary family, use of such an on-line communication system is unlikely to be wide-spread among them. Even if communication with the computer of the supplier by personal computer is made possible due to an increase in the popularity of using a personal computer as a substitute for the private terminal, there are problems in manuplatability and the method for inputting an order of the personal computer, and thus it is difficult to popularize such personal computer communication.